A viral video of an Oklahoma University member of fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon singing a racist chant has sparked discussions about racism across the nation. Because of this discriminatory video, the UNLV Center for Social Justice on March 18 hosted an open dialogue about bigotry in Greek life on campus.
Center for Social Justice graduate adviser Derric Carter felt it necessary to come together with UNLV Greeks to address the issue and how they were affected by the negative worldwide attention brought to fraternity and sorority life.
Students, staff and community members filled almost every chair in the room on the second floor of the Student Union to discuss the controversial topic. Carter began with a brief introduction before opening the floor for the discussion.
“The objective of us coming together today is to raise awareness and be marginally disruptive with dialogue,” Carter said. “We need to be intentional about moving forward from this.”
The open dialogue sessions had several mandates. The first rule was that anyone could share their opinion without feeling attacked by others with opposing views. Second, there was to be no right or wrong, just an open and honest conversation. Third, there would be no use of “I statements.” And finally, orators were to express their points concisely so that everyone had a chance to speak.
UNLV Interfraternity Council (IFC) President Matt Kahn, one of the first to talk, shared his reaction to the viral video. He said the first thing he decided to do was contact his friend, who is the president of a different chapter of the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and get his reaction. Kahn said he then assured his friend that he is an advocate for their cause to prove that members of SAE do not share the same views or condone such appalling behavior.
“We [Greeks] have to tackle issues like this head on and come together for a better good,” Kahn said. “It’ll die down. It’s frustrating. It’s a vicious circle.”
Previous to the dialogue on bigotry and fraternity life event, Kahn took it upon himself to write a letter to the Greek community at UNLV and have it published in the school newspaper, The Rebel Yell, as well as on various online publications and social media sites.
“Within 24 hours of the Oklahoma incident, I issued a letter to the Greek community. It went to the UNLV Fraternity and Sorority Life website. It reached all the way to President Jessup’s office, to student affairs and now it’s gone all the way across the country to international headquarters,” Kahn said. “It’s saying that we need to stand up, step in and speak out on issues and not allow ourselves to be bystanders.”
Kahn added, “I’ve had regional leaders contact me personally via email or phone to thank me. The whole point of the message was just to say that we should never be afraid to speak out; otherwise, the issue’s just going to get larger.”
Many comments were made regarding the racist chant and the detrimental effect the media attention could have on fraternity and sorority members at UNLV.
Two men from the UNLV chapter of SAE attended. One of them was IFC Vice President Colby Ryan. He said the racism shown by the man in the video is a chapter problem, not an SAE problem. He said it is ignorant to think that the entire fraternity throughout the nation is racist.
“For me personally and within our chapter, I hold them to the highest standards,” Ryan said. “Race has never been an issue in our chapter. That’s never been a determinant of who we choose. Many of my pledge brothers have been different ethnicities.”
Many of the students at the March 18 meeting expressed frustration with the thought of negative stereotypes being projected onto UNLV fraternities and sororities after the spotlight thrust upon the Oklahoma University chapter of SAE. Many agreed that the media was extreme in its coverage of the story.
Students then discussed possible action plans to combat the negative perception of fraternities and sororities at UNLV and to distance themselves from stereotypes that may have been formed following the video’s debut.
One option was to release the demographics of fraternities and sororities at UNLV.
UNLV was ranked as one of the top 10 most diverse universities in the nation by the 2015 US News & World Report best colleges ranking. Many of the students in attendance at the forum believed that because the school is identified as a minority serving institution, the numbers would reflect in Greek life.
Some believed that by publishing the demographics, UNLV could be used to set a precedent for other schools.
Another possible action plan was to use the media to their advantage rather than allowing the media to continue to paint a negative picture of Greek members.
Some feel that Greeks at UNLV should invite local news stations and newspapers to their philanthropy events or when they are giving back to the community. That would show the good that UNLV fraternity and sororities do and remove negative perceptions that may have been formed from the viral video.
A different choice offered would be to release a collective statement from all UNLV chapters to the public, reassuring that they do not partake in chants or actions similar to the man in the video.
This would ease tension and perhaps provide relief to incoming students who were scared to pursue going Greek after watching the viral video.
After providing multiple plans for how Greeks at UNLV could move forward from the incident at Oklahoma University, students were asked to make any final comments.
“I feel like this was very progressive. Everyone expressed their view in a respectable manner and tried very hard not to offend anyone else,” said Shirelle Moore, broadcast journalism major and member of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority at UNLV. “If we all have the mindset of making Greek life friendly on our own campus, then we can definitely make a difference. It all starts at UNLV.”